Taiwan dollar is little changed following drop

The currency Thursday touched a three-week high as signs a global economic slump is easing helped fuel demand for emerging-market assets.

Any appreciation will hamper the island's recovery from its worst recession on record, said Jimmy Koh, head of treasury research at United Overseas Bank Ltd.

A Bloomberg News survey before a government report next week showed Taiwan's overseas sales slumped for a 10th month in June.

“We see the central bank coming in quite frequently,” said Singapore-based Koh. “The picture is not very positive for the next few months, so they probably want to have a weaker bias to help exports.”

The island's dollar was at NT$32.890 against the U.S. currency at the 4 p.m. local close yesterday, versus NT$32.947 Thursday and NT$32.925 on June 26, according to Taipei Forex Inc. The currency dropped 0.5 percent Thursday after reaching NT$32.670, the strongest since June 11.

Central banks intervened by arranging sales and purchases of foreign currencies to influence exchange rates.

An official report on July 7 may show Taiwan's exports slid 31 percent last month from a year earlier, almost similar to the drop in May, according to the median estimate in a survey of 13 economists. Shipments account for about 70 percent of the island's economy.

Taiwan's 10-year government bonds were little changed.

The yield on the 1.375 percent bond maturing March 2019 was at 1.63 percent, according to Gretai Securities Market, Taiwan's biggest exchange for bonds. Its price fell 0.005, or NT$5 per NT$100,000 face amount, to 97.7440. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

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